Permission to Experience It All

I am committed to writing these posts weekly even though at times, I dither for days wondering what to write. Have you noticed how fast the weeks go by?

Last week I mentioned that a particular idea had been following me around. It was this: if we maintain a dualistic worldview, we will not experience the richness of life. When I stop and consider dualism, I understand it relates to the human tendency of seeing things as either/or, good/bad, positive/negative. Right now I am focusing on the dualism that exists between positive and negative feelings.  I remember how my psychoanalyst kept hounding me to feel all of my feelings and how I resisted thinking that feeling anything other than in control would make me look dysfunctional and I couldn’t do that because I was a therapist. It is still a struggle to embody all the feelings I encounter on a daily basis.

I am learning that the value of ideas lies in what experiences they lead us to.

In what I labeled as synchronicity, this week my place on the Urbandale Library list for Susan Cain’s, new book, Bittersweet, rose to number one.  Now I hold this book in my hands. Her subtitle:  How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, speaks to allowing all feelings.

In the Prelude, a section right before the Introduction, Cain suggests readers stop and listen to a particular piece of music she described as haunting, exquisite, and infinitely sad: Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor. I found it on YouTube and listened several times, my breath slowing as I let it wash over me. My tense neck straightened and then relaxed. My shoulders and chin lowered. Savoring the complexity of life, I face feelings and fears related to aging as I move closer to the age of seventy-seven. I resonate with the reasons   Cain chose the title Bittersweet.

 Do you allow yourself to experience a variety of feelings and emotions?

IMAGE: Puzzle piece in clouds.